Broken
by ShadowSwan
Summary: Everybody makes mistakes, but this time Steve has cost his partner his entire career and changed Danny's life forever. With a divide forming, Steve is faced with the serious possibility that Five-0 might disband. Now he must find a way to fix his broken team before it is too late, but some things are unforgivable, and he might just be learning that the hard way.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: Hawaii Five-0 and all related aspects of this story do not belong to me. **

* * *

Prologue

"Danny, help us!" Eve screamed in a desperate voice, winking at Steve with a tantalisingly devilish smile on her face.

"Don't!" Steve tried to yell instead, but his brain was still sluggish and his mouth couldn't form the words he wanted to say properly.

"This confused expression you're wearing is so cute," Eve whispered to him, pressing a light kiss to his cheek as the door crashed open.

Steve's heart sank as Danny raced in, gun raised, jaw set with Chin Ho right behind him, along with four or five HPD officers. Immediate gunfire started, and Steve could only watch helplessly as the men positioned around the room stepped out into the open and Danny's face transformed into a mask of surprise.

"I don't think you need to watch this," Eve giggled from behind him, pressing her hands over Steve's eyes so he couldn't see a single thing. It made everything worse; he could hear Danny and Chin's shouts so much clearer.

"Get off me," Steve growled, squirming around but still unable to do much.

"I don't think you'll want to see what's going on, but if you insist," Eve replied before moving her hands away from his face.

The sight that met Steve made his stomach turn, as well as the growing silence. The officers that had accompanied Chin and Danny were all lying on the floor, and Steve had no idea how many of them had survived. Chin was resting against one of the walls, one hand clutched round the top of his other arm of which the sleeve was soaked in blood. He looked up at Steve briefly and shook his head. The action meant many things to Steve. It meant he'd failed, and his team's disappointment in him was entirely deserved. It meant Chin's gentle nature didn't hold him fully responsible but he had a lot to answer for. It meant Steve shouldn't be watching over him, his attention should be elsewhere.

"Well this is messy," Eve said, stalking around the little room and staring at the men she'd been working with.

"We weren't expecting seven," one of them answered.

"And yet there were still eight of you."

"They're all out of action," the same man replied, almost sounding annoyed.

"This is true," she said, a smile pulling at her lips.

"I'll find you again Eve," Steve said, fixing his attention on her and not on the one person he should be.

"How?" she laughed. "You're tied up to a chair, he's about to pass out, this one's already finished and your other officers were really quite pathetic."

She motioned to the various people scattered around the room as she spoke, and eventually Steve was forced to look down straight in front of him. Danny was lying still, still and pale, with his eyes closed. A bruise was already forming on his forehead, an enormous one, and he looked like he might be bleeding.

"Danno," Steve said quietly, his voice breaking in the one word.

"It's been fun gorgeous," Eve said, and Steve glanced up again, not having realised that the other men had all left.

"I will find you again," Steve spat at her, his tone seething with anger. "I will hunt you down and I will get my revenge."

She gave him one last heartbreaking smile and then ran off to join her associates, dancing around the bodies in a way that made Steve feel sick to his stomach. He desperately glanced over at Chin to see if there was any way he'd be able to go after her, but one look at his pale face, covered in a fine sheen of sweat told him it was out of the question.

"Kono's on her way...I think," Chin said, his voice sounding a little weaker than it had a few moments ago. "And Danny's still breathing."

Steve watched as Chin's eyes started to close, watched as Danny's chest rose and fell very slowly, watched as only a couple of the men left stirred slightly. He'd walked into a trap, landed everyone in trouble, and broken his own task force.

* * *

**A/N: Hi! I'm new to this fandom, and seeing as I'm going to be tying up some of my other stories soon, I figured I'd put something up here and see if anyone is interested. I'll stick the first chapter up tomorrow and if it proves to be of interest to a few people, I'll keep on going with it. The story isn't set in a particular time frame; I haven't seen season two yet, which is criminal, and I can't really say it's during season one because there are no references to Wo Fat or any of that storyline, so I'm just treating it as standalone (for anyone who wanted to know that). Enjoy, and thanks for reading :)**


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"You two need to find yourself some women. Fast," Kono Kalakaua said as she sidled up to the table Steve McGarrett and Danny Williams were sat at.

It was a balmy Hawaiian evening and their outdoor table in their current bar afforded them a beautiful view of the beach, lit up by a couple of camp fires and lined with softly waving grass so green it made Danny's eyes hurt. The two men had been sat there putting the world to rights for the past few hours, having headed straight there once they'd wrapped up for the weekend.

"Are you even old enough to be in here?" Danny shot back at her as he passed another beer mat to Steve.

"Cute, but it doesn't hide the fact you're making a house of...beer mats."

"I am assisting," Danny pointed out, looking up at her with raised eyebrows. "And we don't have any cards. This is called improvisation. It's a wonderful thing, you should learn it."

"This is called lame," she laughed.

"A six tier pyramid made entirely of slightly soggy, somewhat wrinkled beer mats is not lame," Steve said through gritted teeth, not moving his eyes away from the construction in front of him as he propped another mat up. "It takes skill."

"You learnt that in the navy?" Kono teased.

"Finished," Steve said proudly, ignoring Kono's remark.

"I'd call this a job well done," Danny said, punching Steve's fist in victory.

"You definitely need women," Kono nodded, reiterating her earlier remark.

"It is a Friday night and we are relaxing in a pub," cut in Danny. "I'm happy, Steve's happy. We have a beer mat pyramid. What more could we possibly need?"

"Well, you could probably loosen the tie a little," shrugged Steve, the edge of his mouth pulling up ever so slightly.

"Don't laugh at that," Danny instructed Kono, who was already grinning. "He's not funny, don't laugh at that. Women dig a smartly dressed man. I know this for a fact."

"So you admit you need a woman. I call this case closed. See you guys on Monday," Kono said happily, shaking her head at the two men.

"Why don't you stay and have a drink with us?" Steve smiled, motioning to the empty chair at the table.

"I happen to have a date," she said, returning Steve's smile. "I'm only meeting him here."

The men noticed for the first time that Kono had definitely not come straight from work. A thin green summer dress hung loosely on her, while the front part of her hair was pinned away from her face. Casual but stunning, as ever.

"Well that's coincidental," Danny said, rolling his eyes as Steve kicked him under the table. It wasn't even as if his tongue was hanging out.

"Isn't it just? I'd recommend it," Kono replied with a wink.

She sauntered out of the bar, turning a few heads on her way and Danny let out a little whistle.

"Lucky guy that is."

"What, you want to date Kono now?" Steve asked. "I don't think that's what she had in mind."

"Well of course I don't want to date her," Danny clarified. "She's Chin's cousin; that would be weird."

"You mean, she's Chin's cousin, he would murder me in my sleep."

Chin Ho Kelly was the final member of the team of four that made up Five-0, a special unit of the law enforcement in Hawaii that had license to pretty much do whatever they wanted without getting in the slightest trouble. He was gentle and friendly but would have no hesitations in sorting Danny out if he tried anything with Kono.

"Bit of both I'd say," Danny nodded. "She's too young anyway."

"Right, right," Steve said, agreeing with him in the most patronising way.

"Oh, oh okay Steven," Danny said, his tone sharper, his breathing a little heavier. "I can see that you are swamped with women wanting your number and wishing you'd take them out to dinner, so I won't keep you any longer."

"You need to learn to calm down," Steve laughed, watching Danny run a calming hand through his perfectly coiffed hair.

"You need to learn that I have no intentions of dating Kono."

"Oh I already knew that."

"You did, huh? You did?"

"Yeah I did. Just thought it'd be fun to wind you up a little."

"Because that's what I need on a Friday night. Thanks, thanks a lot."

"Any time."

Steve and Danny stared each other out for a moment before Danny reached a hand out and punched the beer mats. They scattered everywhere, helped along a little by the breeze that was settling in, but Steve didn't even flinch.

"You feel better now?" he asked, nodding.

"Much better, thank you," Danny replied, smiling tightly though with a tiny sparkle in his eyes.

"Let's go find ourselves some women then," Steve said, standing up suddenly.

"Excuse me?"

"Well after watching that little demonstration, I can't help but agree with Kono."

"I don't want a date. I have Rachel, I have Grace-"

"Is it okay to point out that Rachel, your ex-wife, is remarried, to someone else? And that your daughter is a terrible excuse, because she doesn't live with you?"

"Ouch man, cut me deep why don't you?"

"Truth hurts. Come on, it'll be fun. See who can get the most numbers in one night."

"Has everything got to be a competition with you?" Danny asked, his arms outstretched.

Steve grinned at him and walked away from the table.

"Hey where are you going?" Danny called.

"It's called a head start," Steve replied, not even looking back.

~5~0~

"How many?"

"Five," Danny said proudly, resting an elbow on the latest bar Steve and him had settled in. The bar was dingy and dark but it was eleven and they'd called their competition a day; this was their final spot before the journey home.

Danny made a great show of laying out four slips of paper with four different cell phone numbers on, and then brought his arm up to show the final number written on in permanent marker. Steve nodded approvingly, trying not to laugh. Danny huffed and put a hand to his forehead before asking him the same question.

"Thirteen," Steve said, with only minimal smugness.

"Unlucky," Danny retorted.

"If you want to call thirteen numbers in one night unlucky, go right ahead."

"Two beers brah?" the young boy serving behind the counter asked Steve.

"Please," Steve said, handing him the money.

"What did you do, parade around topless?"

"I have a little more self respect than that."

"Well you don't have much else to offer. Your smile's so damn pretty babe, but you never show it off."

"I'm buying you a drink, knock it off."

"A pity drink," Danny said, nevertheless taking it and clinking his glass against Steve's.

"You going to take any of them out then?" Steve asked after taking a long swig from the ice cold drink.

"Doubtful," Danny replied. "You?"

"Probably not," Steve said, and the two men smirked at one another.

"You look like two men about to wrap up your night out," a voice said from behind the men, and they both whipped round in surprise.

"We were actually-"

Danny elbowed Steve in the ribs, hard, and then stepped forward, holding a hand out to the three women that were standing in front of them and smiling at Steve.

"I'm Detective Danny Williams," he said, introducing himself and trying to make himself look a little more impressive.

"Is the puffing out of your chest directly correlated to the puffing up of your hair?" Steve asked, nudging him back and stepping forward. "McGarrett, Steve McGarrett."

"Nice to meet you both," said the woman who'd spoken originally, failing to conceal a grin at Steve's comment. "So can I buy you another drink?"

"I think I'm meant to ask you that question," he laughed. Danny's attention was now being taken up by the other two women, who were both also giggling from Steve's jibe.

"I like to be original," she smiled, displaying a perfect set of white teeth framed by the fullest red lips Steve had ever seen.

Liking what he saw, Steve let his eyes travel over the rest of the woman stood in front of him. Slim figure, nice chest, beautifully dressed in a red cocktail dress that revealed just the right amount of leg. Huge brown eyes, heart shaped face, long chestnut hair that softly curled around her shoulders. Not his usual type but he was already a little tipsy and no man in his right mind would refuse this woman.

"Do you still want that drink?" the woman asked.

"We're thinking of calling it a day soon," Steve admitted, feeling guilty for being caught out ogling.

"That's too bad," she said, pouting ever so slightly.

"Guess you'll have to buy it me another day," he replied, letting a smile spread lazily across his face.

"I'd like that," the woman replied, flashing him another brilliant smile.

"So would I," he said. "Sorry I didn't catch your name?"

"I'm Eve Blake," the woman said confidently, holding out a hand which Steve readily shook. "And my number's on this."

She held out a beer mat which he took almost greedily, and then gave a quick wave and headed out of the door with her two friends following behind.

"That's classy," Danny commented, pointing at the beer mat.

"Fourteen, and that is definitely jealousy," said Steve, snapping back into the present. "I guess her other friends didn't care to share their personal details?"

"It's not jealousy."

"A beautiful woman gives me her number and you make a sarcastic remark? No, not jealous."

"Well at least I wasn't drooling. I mean who are you? Talking to her like you're some sort of secret agent. Trying to win them all over with stupid comments."

"Funny comments, which were entirely justified. Jealousy's cruel," Steve repeated.

"I'm not jealous," Danny reaffirmed. "Can we go now?"

"What, before I triple your score?"

"Great, kid learned to do math. Let's go."

"Alright, I'm coming," Steve surrendered, finishing his pint in one go and following his partner out into the night.

"Are you sure you're okay to drive?" Danny asked as Steve settled behind the wheel.

"Yeah, I don't need a ratio of two beers to one phone number to get me psyched up," said Steve as he put the car in gear. "Besides, I like driving this car."

"I wouldn't know what it's like to drive my car, you seem to always be the one behind the wheel."

"I didn't need as much alcohol in me as you did," Steve laughed, cruising down the dark highway smoothly with the windows down.

"McGarrett. Steve McGarrett," Danny mimicked.

"Jealousy is unattractive."

"So is arrogance. And that stupid smirk."

"This'll be a fun drive home. You want to take her out instead?"

"She's all yours brah. I got a weird feeling about her."

"That's called attraction, I felt it too."

"Hilarious."

"You can crash the date if you want."

"Three's a crowd."

"That's true."

"Wait, you're taking your ego already anyway. Four's practically a stadium full of people I'd say."

"I don't have an ego."

"I think your head's ballooned in size from just tonight."

"At least my hair isn't making it look worse."

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**A/N: I was so blown away by the response to just a short little prologue! I was so nervous about it, and though some probably don't see it as much, it really meant a lot to me! So thank you to everyone who alerted, favourite'd and reviewed; I reply to them as much as I can. Hope you enjoyed this chapter - I try and keep my characters really true to their originals, so I hope I succeeded on that too. Thanks for reading :)**


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"What have we got boss?" Kono asked, looking up at Steve with raised eyebrows.

"Car bomb," Steve replied gravely. "Witnesses saw a couple of men running away just before it blew up. A couple were injured from the explosion, but only the driver was killed."

"Blowing up a car, that's a new one," Danny said, nodding his head and smiling grimly. "Don't get much of that here do we?"

It was a Monday morning and the Five-0 team had been given a new case to tackle already. It was swelteringly hot outside with no breeze to soften the heat at all, and the weather was making everyone more irritable than usual. All anyone felt like doing was grabbing a shave ice or a cold beer, but instead work called.

"Do you think you could work one case without moaning about Hawaii?" Chin teased lightly, nudging Danny in the ribs.

"As long as there's something to moan about, I will continue to moan," Danny answered, clapping him on the back. "And I'm pretty sure there will always be something to moan about."

"Do we know who died?" Kono asked, forcing the attention back to Steve.

"Not yet, we're waiting on dental records."

Kono and Chin both winced at the same time as Danny shook his head.

"How long should they take?" asked Chin.

"Governor said she'd try and get a rush on them," Steve explained. "That's all she can do at the moment."

"Wait, how come she's getting involved in this? So far nothing seems out of the ordinary, other than that maybe it was in a slightly more crowded area than usual."

"There's an arts festival in a week's time-"

"Taking place in the same area," Kono finished, glancing at the map on the huge screen they were gathered around. "They need to start setting up soon and they can't while it's a crime scene."

"Exactly. It also attracts a few tourists and a lot of the locals turn up to watch it; she doesn't want people being scared off by this and not showing up for the festival."

"So we have to get this wrapped up in a couple days?" Danny asked.

"Pretty much," Steve nodded. "Oh, wait."

His cell phone was buzzing in his pocket and he fished around for it quickly.

"Is it the governor?" Kono asked, eager to get started as ever.

"I certainly hope not," Chin said with a smirk, glancing at Steve's screen and then shaking his head.

"Who is it?" Danny asked, looking a little indignant. "Who else texts you? Who even texts nowadays?"

"People with photos to send," Chin laughed, and Kono looked at Steve with mock disgust.

Steve cleared his throat and with one final approving look at his cell, put it back in his pocket and turned to face Danny.

"You're receiving naked text messages?" he demanded. "From who, who would want to send you naked photos of themselves? I mean, do you know them? Do you know them well enough to be looking at them naked?"

"She has underwear on," Steve said, rolling his eyes. "You sound like you're jealous."

"Hilarious, as always. Is it that girl we picked up at the bar the other night?"

"If you mean Eve, the woman that I picked up at the bar the other night... then yes."

"You're such a gentleman boss," Kono sighed, walking away from the guys. Sometimes she definitely felt outnumbered. "I'm going to go check out the crime scene. Cuz?"

Chin nodded, looking over at Kono as she addressed him. "I'll go with her."

"We'll pull up some camera feeds from the surrounding roads, get some information on where the car had been recently," Steve replied.

"All that good stuff," added Danny.

"See you later," Kono and Chin chorused, raising a hand as they walked out of the door.

There was silence for a moment and then Steve turned to his partner, who was staring at him, one eye slightly narrowed.

"What?" Steve asked, feigning innocence. He knew his partner was riled that their bet the other night had led to something further for one of them, and he also knew that Danny was hot. The combination of the heat and the tie made for one angry little detective. Literally.

"You're dating the woman we found?"

"I found her," Steve corrected, again. "Or, she found me. Either way, you played no role."

"I was next to you!" cried Danny in outrage, and Steve let a smile dance across his face, enjoying his partner's irritation as ever.

"Have you received any photos of her recently?"

"No, for which I am grateful, considering all of us are well above high school now."

"It was just a bit of fun, she's wearing a bikini on the beach. Chin made it out to be something it's not."

"So if you found those photos on my phone, you wouldn't say anything? At all?"

"Well I might say something," laughed Steve. "But I wouldn't be so jealous."

"Steven, I am not jealous."

"Sure, sure," Steve chuckled, brushing the comment away.

"I thought you were dating the other woman. The one who's never here. The invisible, imaginary girlfriend."

"She's not imaginary, and we have an open relationship. When she isn't around, she can date who she wants at her base, and I can date who I want at mine. We agreed that while we would both always be in different places, that was the best strategy."

"Strategy? Strategy? What-" Danny spluttered, then decided he'd leave that rant for another time. "A base means a base! That means you can date someone who works here, in the force, not some woman you find at a bar!"

"Someone who works here? You mean you? And you're sure you're not-"

"Not jealous," Danny finished, still angry and annoyed that Steve continued just to smile at him, amused.

"Okay."

Danny gestured with his arms wildly, trying to find words convey how he was feeling, but eventually settled for balling his fist up and bringing it to his mouth, then attempting to relax.

"I'm going to work on those camera feeds," Danny said, raising his eyebrows as if daring Steve to laugh again.

"Okay," Steve repeated, still entertained. Teasing his partner just never got old, and Danny fell for the bait every single time without fail.

Danny stormed off into his office, muttering away to himself about inappropriate things to send and receive in the workplace, and how if two partners couldn't see eye to eye on the small things, how on earth were they going to agree on other, more important matters?

Steve let him go with a smile. He had no worries - their partnership was solid, their friendship firm. He knew how far he could push his blonde counterpart before he would snap for real, and he was a long way from that just yet. Steve was pleased; this particular matter had proved to be highly entertaining so far.

~5~0~

Steve jumped when his office phone rang, having been engrossed in the files he was reading, not expecting a phone call.

"McGarrett, Five-0."

"Do you really answer the phone like that?"

Steve looked up and through the glass of both his own and Danny's office, he watched his partner wave at him, phone pressed to his ear.

"Yes. Why are you calling me?"

"Who do you think you are? A secret agent? I'm calling you because it's too hot to walk all the way from this chair to your door."

"No, I think I'm head of an efficient, professional task force. This requires an efficient, professional phone greeting. Why didn't you just email?"

"Wanted to hear your voice babe. Besides, I thought you were all about the phones these days," Danny said, referencing earlier happenings with a wink.

"You should try loosening your tie, it would help with the heat problems. And the red cheeks," Steve added.

"The tie thing is getting old now," Danny told him in a singsong voice.

"Do you have anything you actually want to say?"

"Yes, I'm bored. Camera feeds just show the car driving along the road until it blows up. All of the times match up, the car didn't stop anywhere for miles, at least a half hour. This bomb was planned, because it was planted somewhere previous to the journey."

"The car was a hire, but according to one of the police reports, the driver knew the man he hired it from."

"So his friend held a grudge against him? Planted the bomb, waved adios and figured one car was a small price to pay for getting rid of him altogether?"

"You're so cheery at times."

"I try my best Steven. It's hot, give me a break."

"Of course, none of the rest of us feel heat until it's above a hundred degrees. Must be what happens when you've lived here longer than five minutes."

"It's been longer than five minutes," Danny assured him. "Feels like five lifetimes."

"Back to the case," Steve reminded him, smirking at his partner who grinned back. "These guys were close, there was no bad blood between them. It'd be like me blowing your car up."

"You even touch that thing and-"

Both men were interrupted by the door opening and the other half of their team re-entering the building. Chin and Kono automatically turned to Steve's office to tell him what they'd found, but when they saw he was on the phone, they turned back to Danny. With the detective also on the phone, the cousins looked at each other in confusion. Danny and Steve laughed and put the phone down at the same time, walking out of their offices.

"Were you two on the phone... to each other?" Kono asked.

"The heat, it gets to me," Danny explained with a flourish of his arms.

"What do you have?"

"Nothing," Chin said, shaking his head.

"You've been gone two hours," Danny informed them. "You must have something. Anything."

"Location didn't look suspicious at all, other than the black marks all over the road."

"And apparently there were no witnesses at all, in such a crowded place," said Chin, rolling his eyes.

"We went back to the police department on our way here to check over the witness statements they took at the time, but they were all useless too," finished Kono, while Chin glowered. "Do you have anything?"

"No," Danny shrugged. "We got the dental records confirmed and dug into that, but the driver was just a random guy. No history of rivalry with any gangs, never been in trouble with either side of the law."

"So we have a car loaned by a friend, seemingly with no reason for it to be tampered with, no motive for murdering the driver and no evidence of a bomb being planted at any point," summed up Steve.

"And yet it exploded in the middle of where next week, an arts festival is taking place."

"Suicide bomber?" Danny put forward.

"Makes no sense. Why not wait until next week when it would do more damage?" pointed out Kono.

"You are just a ray of sunshine at times," Danny commented, which Kono just ignored.

"Suicide attempt?" suggested Steve.

"Awfully dramatic," Danny said. "Sort of way you'd try to end everything."

"Brilliant, thanks," nodded Steve.

"Anytime babe."

"So we really do have nothing?" Chin confirmed.

Confusion ran around the silent foursome. A simple car bomb had suddenly turned into a mystery, one that needed solving in order to reassure the people of the surrounding area, and yet they were further away from a solution than they'd ever been. Forty eight hours suddenly seemed a very short amount of time.

* * *

**A/N: It's been a while. A very long while. I'm so sorry, but at least I'm back, with (hopefully) much more regular updates. I hope people are still interested in this story, and that it's still worth reading. Thank you to anyone sticking with it, and thanks in general for reading! As a side note, this story isn't going to be finished after they finish the case - I definitely cannot drag out forty eight hours over too many chapters, so don't think this story is going to be short. There is lots more to come! :)**


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

By half eleven in the morning, Steve had given up. Danny had practically passed out from the heat, Kono was irritable because she had absolutely no ideas, and Chin was frantically going over everything they'd already compiled, trying to make some sense of what might have happened.

"This is useless," announced Steve from where he'd just been stood at the window, deep in thought. "Let's take a lunch break and maybe when we come back, someone will have had an idea."

Danny glanced up from where he was lying down on the cool floor and nodded in response.

"Sounds good," replied Kono, and Chin echoed the sentiment.

Danny hopped up with renewed energy and headed out of the door without another word. The other three all looked at each other with confusion but shrugged it off quickly.

"Anyone up for shrimp?" Chin suggested.

"Definitely," Kono said with a smile.

"I wish I could have a nice, cold beer," Steve groaned, grabbing his wallet from his office and following his other team members out of the office.

"Don't even say it brah," Chin replied, mouth watering at the thought.

Despite the fact it was hotter outside than in, it was a relief to get out of the office. Steve had a feeling it wouldn't have been too long before they'd hit crazy, and then it only took a second to lead to arguing, which was never productive. They needed to step away from the puzzling situation and look at it with fresh eyes later.

"So, where do you think Danny went?" asked Kono, as they sat around sharing various delights from Kamekona's truck.

"Not a clue," Steve replied, his mouth half full.

"That's not attractive to the ladies," Kamekona told Steve as he wondered over. "Take it from me."

"You a romance expert now?" Chin laughed, addressing Kamekona.

"They can't keep away from me," Kamekona replied, making Kono laugh too and Steve choke on his soda.

"It's cool brah, Steve has a girl already," Kono said teasingly, ignoring Steve's attempts to shut her up.

"Oh really?" Kamekona asked, turning to face him.

"It's really nothing," Steve said, brushing it away.

"I want to see pictures."

"Not his pictures," muttered Chin, the comment earning him a sharp nudge in the ribs.

"Maybe I'll bring her here some time," Steve said, trying to move the conversation along.

"What's her name?" Kamekona asked.

"Eve," said Danny, sidling up to their table and taking everyone by surprise. "Eve and Steve, it's all very cute."

Normally Steve would have reacted to Danny's comment, but instead he, along with everyone else gathered at the table, could only stare at Danny's attire. It was now apparent where he'd been all this time.

"You own cargo pants?" Steve asked in wonder, as Kono cracked up.

"I've worn them once," Danny replied defensively. "But you seemed nowhere near as hot as I did earlier, so I'm giving them a go. And of course, you can't wear a shirt and tie with them, hence the tshirt."

"You look like a small, blonde version of him," Kamekona said, pointing at Steve, which made everyone laugh.

"So many times you have told me off about wearing this outfit," said Steve, shaking his head in mock shame.

"I am wearing this because the weather demands it. I am neither happy, nor comfortable. So I can still tell you off. Just with more evidence. I, Danny Williams, am not a hypocrite."

Teasing Danny over his new clothes took them all the way back to the office. Danny took it all in his stride; he was cooler, therefore in a better mood, therefore a little more tolerable than he had been before lunch.

~5~0~

"So, now you're all ready to spring into action," Steve deadpanned to Danny, which earned him a glare and a giggle from Kono. "Any master plans?"

"No Steven," Danny informed him. "If there was a correlation between cargo pants and intelligence, you would be much cleverer than you are."

"Thanks Danno."

"Why don't we split up again, like yesterday, but do the opposite?" Kono suggested, rolling her eyes at their bickering.

"I'm sorry, you're going to have run that past us again," Danny said. "Look at Steve, there are no lights on."

Steve's helpfully blank expression turned into one of resigned annoyance as he motioned for Kono to explain. In fairness, he was a little confused.

"Chin and I will stay here this time, and you guys go out and do the investigating. We both might pick up on things the others missed yesterday."

"That's a good shout," Chin said. "We have nothing so at some point, we're going to have to revisit what we've already gone over. Four pairs of eyes are better than two."

"How come it's you two versus us two again? Why do I always get stuck with him?" Danny asked, looking affronted as he pointed at Steve.

"Because we work well together," Kono smiled. "And you two are both annoying. So you may as well just annoy each other."

Danny and Steve went to protest then looked at each other and shrugged. She had a fair point.

"We will see you guys later," Danny said, clapping Steve on the shoulder and leading him out of the building.

Chin and Kono laughed as the two clones walked out of the building together.

"Are you filming them or just taking photos?" Chin asked Kono, spying her cell phone in her hand.

"Both," she laughed. "You can never have enough blackmail."

~5~0~

Danny sighed happily as a sudden breeze washed over them. Stretching his arms out and closing his eyes, he savoured every cool moment of it before it had disappeared again. He loved Hawaii. He'd never admit it, but he did. But days like this, when the sun was so unforgiving, he wished he was still on the mainland. Where crimes took place in cold warehouses and standard homes, not streets with no trees in crazy heat.

"Are you finished?" Steve asked, appearing before him as Danny opened his eyes again.

"I was hot. There was wind. I cooled. I am finished."

"Good to know."

"Why are you so het up? There is nothing here. We have gone over every possible detail three thousand times," groaned Danny, drawing each word out. "The car itself is with forensics, Max has the body, all the necessary photos and evidence was taken at the time. Face it. We aren't going to find anything here. Only the black marks and the bits of glass suggest anything even took place."

Steve had to concede that Danny had a point. The road was straight and flat with only a few generic trees spaced at even intervals on the sides. It ran parallel to the beach but didn't hit the inner part of town for a few miles yet. The only people milling around were the organisers of the street festival, setting up the big things that needed more attention. Steve had wanted to question them, but their grumpy faces had told the men they'd been questioned enough already over the last few days. Last resource only.

"So what do we do? Call Kono and Chin and tell them we still have nothing?" asked Steve

"It's either that or trek up and down the road for the millionth time looking for something that isn't there."

Steve went to argue that there had to be something there, but his cell phone ringing cut him off. Showing Danny that the caller was Chin, Steve picked up and wandered off to hold the conversation. It infuriated Danny when he did that. Admittedly it was easy to rile him, but why oh why did he have to move the conversation? They were all on the same team, on the same case, working with the same information. All it meant was that Steve was going to have to relay it to him in a minute, but he'd do it in short, sharp points, and invariably missed out the little pieces Chin included to help. Super smart SEAL had it all up in his head, and apparently that was enough for the both of them.

Danny went to make a point of this to Steve, but stopped when he noted the grim satisfaction in his partner's eyes.

"I take it that means something bad has happened which could be good for the case."

It also meant they were probably going to go on some crazy car chase with Steve behind the wheel of his car to get to some new location in five seconds flat. Because if they didn't get there fast enough, whatever it was would just disappear.

"Chin just got a call from HPD. The friend that loaned our victim the car has just turned up dead."

* * *

**A/N: Wow. So, it's been just a little while... oops. I still get notifications every so often that people have put this story on alert or favourite'd it, so I'm hoping there's still some interest in it. I know I didn't get very far in before I abandoned it. I'm very sorry about that. It has all been planned out though, so bear with me. I really do love this story; it starts off as a case fic then explores the team dynamic later on. This chapter is quite short, I know, but the start of it had been sat on my laptop for months on end and in a burst of positive procrastination (it's exam season) I decided to finish it off and post it up here, so I can start afresh with the next chapter. I hope that makes sense? I'm sure I'm not the only one who has faced writer's block halfway through. So anyway, please leave me your thoughts! I will continue this anyway, but it would be lovely to know there are still people reading. Oh, and hard as I try, I can never quite write Danny's dialogue in the wonderful way Scott Caan says it. Please just imagine his voice! I do, and it does help convey what I wanted (I think). Okay, now you see why I put this at the end of the chapter; if you've read all of this giant note, thank you! And well done. **


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